Horas Bangso Batak Still Wait for Abdul Somad's Apology

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A legal team member of Horas Bangso Batak, Erwin Situmorang, said that his side is still waiting for Muslim preacher Abdul Somad to issue a public apology for the remarks on Christian cross.

The preacher who is known as UAS commented about the crucifix as answering the participant’s question during his sermon three years ago. Recently, the video footage went viral on social media platforms.

“Until now, we still want him to make a public apology. We don’t resent UAS, we are just offended by his answers of one of the guests’ questions,” said Erwin to Tempo, Wednesday, August 28.

He asserted that his community will accept Abdul’s apology should the latter earnestly offer it, even though the report had been filed to Jakarta Metro Police for alleged blasphemy.

“We’d like to [accept his apology]. Since the beginning, we want UAS to clarify and issue apology publicly,” said Erwin.

Meanwhile, UAS announced on August 21, after the meeting with Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) that he would not issue an apology as he believed to have delivered Islamic value by his statements uttered during a closed sermon.

“If he does not feel sorry, we'll just entrust it to the police,” Erwin said.

Other than Horas Bangso Batak, Gerakan Mahasiswa Kristen Indonesia (GMKI) also filed a police report against Abdul Somad to National Police crime investigation unit for insulting Christian’s beliefs.

M YUSUF MANURUNG